How To Help

Keep Zephaniah and our family in prayer, if you would be so kind. It's a new journey for us to be adoptive parents and Zeph has so much to get used to, so much change in his little life to acclimate to.

We'll be running some fundraisers to help offset the costs of the adoption and will post them on our blog. You can click on the "Fundraisers" at the top of our page to see the current fund-raisers.

Our Estimated Adoption Costs:

$2,250 Homestudy Agency Fee

$125 Classes for homestudy

$120 fingerprints for homestudy

$400 notaries

$936 Apostilles!!! (California charges $24 per document! We have aprox. 39!)

$65 certification of license letters from medical boards of our doctors

$70 - state clearance certificates for (dossier) documents

$150 Medical fees for our child(ren) in-country (estimated $150 per child)

$475 Car Transportation in-country (? not sure about this est. yet)

$3,500 -estimated house/food/living in Eastern Europe 5 weeks

$404 Visa Application in-country ($404 per child)

$890 USCIS fees

$1500 Passport for the child in-country (in our child's region it's $1200 plus a $300 fee)

$1,000 initial RR fees (goes towards facilitation fees)

$7,000 Airfare

$8,000 facilitation fees, in-country

$500 postage fees

$600 Train Transportation in-country (est. - not sure about yet)

Total of estimated costs to adopt 1 child: $27,985 (approximate)

ACTUAL Adoption Expenses PAID:

· Homestudy fee $2,250

· Fingerprints @ PD $152

· Fingerprints/livescan State DOJ clearances $70

· US Postal Service, Passports $302

· Secretary of State Apostilles $926

· Notary $620

· Shipping $241.26

· USCIS $980

· Airplane tickets for travel home: $1175.72

· US Embassy for adopted child’s VISA $404

· Internal Organization for Migration, child’s medical exam in-country required for passport: $110

· Facilitation Fees: $9,000

· Food in-country $819.63 ($6,557.02 at the exchange rate of 8.0248) - and for the record - we ate out TWICE - once during travel and once right before court with facilitator.

· Food in travel/airport: $41.21

Tr$200 (aprox) in travel supplies.

· $180 rent in Kiev In Sept. for 3 days at $60 per day

· $160 train tickets from Kiev to Kramatorsk

$2,589.70 (plane tickets for our family to Kiev, Ukraine)

$1700 (rent, in-region, in-country)

$1,000 (expedited passport for adopted child)

$160 (train tickets from Kramatorsk to Kiev)

$56.40 (child plane ticket home, taxes only – flight miles donated)

$25 - Medical Board to certify Dr.'s license is valid to go with medical form

$710 – car transportation/courier expenses in Ukraine

$300 – rent in Kiev 5 days at $60 per day Oct. 8-12, 2011

$109.80 – infant plane ticket home (Evie)

$519.66 – child plane ticket home (Nathanael)

$116 - gas $ to DRIVE up to Sacramento to get the re-done DOJ clearance (in my married name instead of maiden - they goofed) apostilled ASAP so we could get everything turned in on time before shut down of SDA in Ukraine.

= $24,918.17 Total Adoption-related expenses

Total Donations: $7,185.89 (plus two tickets home paid for with frequent flyer miles donated)

Adoption

Adoption is such a special subject to our family. In the first place WE have been adopted into God's family! How AMAZING that the God of all creation has adopted us! How awesome is the heart of our heavenly Father! And we want to have a heart like Him!



Scott is no stranger to adoption as his younger sister was adopted and he feels it is a wonderful way to gain a sibling. :)

Rachel always wanted to be a mommy - really - always! Well, at least since she could carry a doll around! Even before getting married she and Scott had discussed adoption as one way to allow God to build their family once they were wed. They are so blessed to have their three biological children and are looking forward to the blessing of another little boy through their first adoption!

This journey is long and filled with lumps and bumps and even mountains! Mountains of paperwork, mountains of finances, mountains of risk and emotion - I think you get the idea. But God is mighty enough to move those mountains and that is what we are asking everyone to pray - for God to clear the way for us to bring our child home. We are not ignorant that this is a very real spiritual battle and a child's life is on the line. Children with special needs most often than not have little to no future to look forward to in life if they remain orphaned. It is our prayer that through our family Wallace will have a "future and a hope" and be an orphan no longer, instead surrounded by family - a big brother and sister and even a little sister! A mommy, a daddy, grandparents, cousins, .... !